DENVER, CO - OCT. 30: First-grader Temperance Deuth, 7, sits down with her school in the cafeteria. Students from SOAR at the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus of Denver Public Schools eat their lunch in the school cafeteria on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. The campus food prep workers prepare meals for all of the schools on campus, including SOAR.

DENVER, CO - OCT. 30: Prep cooks from left to right Patricia Lopez, Jennifer Chavez, and Viridiana Torres prepare chicken sandwiches which is a daily choice for students. Students from SOAR at the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus of Denver Public Schools eat their lunch in the school cafeteria on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. The campus food prep workers prepare meals for all of the schools on campus, including SOAR.

DENVER, CO - OCT. 30: At the end of the lunch period, students put their paper plates in the trash. Students from SOAR at the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus of Denver Public Schools eat their lunch in the school cafeteria on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. The campus food prep workers prepare meals for all of the schools on campus, including SOAR.

Federal rules over the past five years have opened cafeterias in most Colorado school districts to salad bars, scratch cooking and new chef-designed meals tested by students.

But Douglas County has removed its high schools from the federal program, Cherry Creek is considering doing the same and other districts say they are struggling to meet all of the standards while still getting kids to eat at school.

Districts and nonprofit organizations are asking lawmakers in Washington to relax some of the standards — such as the reduced sodium levels and requirement for only whole grains — cut paperwork or provide more funding.

This year, of Colorado’s 178 school districts, 14 — up from last year’s 12 — requested and received a state waiver from the rule requiring 100 percent whole grains. It was the only waiver allowed to the federal plan.

The meal changes haven’t come cheap. The federal government pays districts per meal served, but students who don’t like school food can sometimes eat off-campus or bring lunch from home.

Fewer kids eating at school can be costly, or even unsustainable, as less federal money comes in to cover the program.

“Current sodium levels are similar to therapeutic diet levels for heart patients, so we already have very restrictive diets. Why do we need to keep going lower?” said Beth Wallace, nutrition director for the Cherry Creek School District. “Do we want them to participate? Or do they not? Because kids do have a choice.”

Wallace is also the president of Colorado School Nutrition Association, which represents food directors but is sponsored by large food companies such as General Mills. She said she wants rules to be tweaked to consider what kids are willing to eat.

Rules for the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which passed in 2010 and was rolled out in pieces, run through the end of this school year. Members of the U.S. Senate agriculture committee are negotiating a new bill, said committee communications director Sarah Little. She added the senators hope to have a draft out soon.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado is on the committee, and his spokesman, Adam Bozzi, said schools should “offer wholesome breakfast and lunch options, and we need to ensure that schools have the appropriate support and resources to serve them.”

“Teachers across the state will tell you it’s critical Colorado’s kids are eating nutritious meals,” Bozzi said.

Some school districts have also reached out to U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who sits on the House committee for education and the workforce. The school districts mostly push for administrative changes such as less paperwork and fewer training requirements.

The federal rules apply to public schools receiving money to subsidize food for low-income children. All grains must be whole grains; schools must offer more fruits and vegetables; and sodium has been reduced, meaning districts had to recraft recipes to meet the standards.

For 11-year-old Lanna, school food has been getting better over the years.

“They only used to think about our health and not the taste,” Lanna said. “It needs to taste good, too, and it has improved.”

But Lanna is different than some of her friends who want more variety in food or spicier wings, or who say the Blackjack pizza — which is modified — is still their favorite lunch item. She took the salad with red peppers.

“I like peppers a lot,” Lanna said. “I eat salad at home, too.”

Food-service directors from metro-area school districts say they believe kids are getting used to the food, although older students are more of a challenge.

“We got them to learn to like fresh foods and vegetables and found wholesome chicken nuggets they like,” said Brent Craig, nutrition services director for Douglas County schools.

But district officials in Douglas County said high school students who didn’t like the new foods were going off campus to eat, and schools would have had to close the in-house Subway restaurants, meaning the district wouldn’t be able to financially sustain the lunch program.

In Cherry Creek, district officials got a waiver to skirt the rule calling for 100 percent whole grains. District officials said kids were not eating the whole wheat macaroni and cheese, an affordable staple and normally a favorite meal in its cafeterias.

The Douglas County district has focused on incorporating nutrition and food education into the curriculum for the younger children who have taste preferences that are easier to change.

“When kids can make their choices, they’re much more excited about it. There’s a lot less waste,” said Theresa Hafner, executive director of enterprise management for DPS. “I think we’ve done some really good things.”

In Cherry Creek, Wallace said budget restrictions meant less fruit variety than in the past.

Gabriella Warner, a dietician and director for Livewell Colorado, a nonprofit that helps school districts implement better school food, says the problem is that districts lack resources — sometimes as basic as knife sets in kitchens to cut fresh fruit.

“A lot of the kitchens we see are equipped to open boxes,” Warner said. Through Livewell, she helps districts apply for small grants to buy kitchen equipment.

She says the health standards are important to help curb growing obesity problems, but she said more support is needed.

“More than 30 million children receive at least one meal every day at school. That’s a large audience and a large reach,” Warner said. “These standards are really hard to implement, but is the solution to retract certain parts to it? No. The solution is to provide more technical assistance.”

Yesenia Robles was a breaking news reporter for The Denver Post, working with the organization from 2010-2016. She covered education, crime and courts, and the northern suburbs. Raised in Denver, she graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder and is a native Spanish speaker.

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